Spine damaged by Sitting

Recently yet another good friend of mine was diagnosed with slipped (herniated) disc.

Most people thought slipped disc only happen to old people, or those who work in labourous jobs. But most of my friends who suffer from slipped disc are only in early 30s, and they are all white-collared PMEBs. They didn't do anything drastic or contact sports or been through any serious accidents or falls.. so how did they injure their spine?!

Sedentary lifestyle was the culprit! Even simply by sitting for long hours can damage your spine.

Our backs are perfectly evolved for a hunter gatherer lifestyle, which was much more strenuous than ours (and did not include chairs!) A bushman or aborigine crippled by back pain would be unlikely to survive long enough to have descendants, so evolution ruthlessly eliminated all but the fittest. So we have inherited a perfectly spine design for an active (but definitely) not sedentary lifestyle!

When we sit, the chair usually tipped the pelvis backwards off balance. As the torso weight bears down on the spine and the seat pushes the base of the pelvis up, the pelvis becomes a lever bending the spine forwards and distorting it. (There are ligaments to limit this bending. They are strong for brief exertions like lifting, but under prolonged stress they stretch till they can’t protect the discs.) The results are strained ligaments and compressed intervertebral discs. The more the pelvis slumps the more pressure it puts on the discs. The damage this causes gets worse the longer you sit in this posture.

Ideally we should adjust the height of the chair so that thighs are higher than the knees, thus allowing the thighs to slope downwards and prevent the slumping of the pelvis.

Applying Pilates principles will help to prevent pelvis from slumping too:

1. Think of length in the spine. Always sit as if there is a helium balloon tied to the top of your crown, lifting the entire spine up long to the ceiling.
2. Keep your navel to spine to allow the "powerhouse closet" to support your spine.
3. Gently draw your thighs together to get the adductors (inner thighs) and pelvic floor activated.